JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Migrants’ families say bigger risk to leave them in Venezuela

by

Rishard Khan
1534 days ago
20201201
Venezuelan migrants from,left, Gregoria Figueredo, Edison La Porta, Carelis Caraballo, Felix Marcano, Feiber Caraballo and Miguel Colina outside attorney Gerald Ramdeen’s Woodbrook office yesterday.

Venezuelan migrants from,left, Gregoria Figueredo, Edison La Porta, Carelis Caraballo, Felix Marcano, Feiber Caraballo and Miguel Colina outside attorney Gerald Ramdeen’s Woodbrook office yesterday.

SHIRLEY BAHADUR

Rishard Khan

rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt

Rel­a­tives of the Venezue­lan mi­nors who were de­port­ed af­ter try­ing to en­ter the coun­try il­le­gal­ly on No­vem­ber 22 said yes­ter­day they knew they were break­ing the law. How­ev­er, they said they were forced to do it to en­sure their loved ones’ sur­vival.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia through a trans­la­tor, Miguel Col­i­na, 29, said his wife Mariels Fer­mo, 27 and three chil­dren, aged be­tween three to 12, were among the mi­grants who were de­port­ed and re­turned to T&T and are now be­ing held un­der quar­an­tine at the Ch­aguara­mas He­li­port. He has not seen them in two years since he left Venezuela to come to Trinidad.

“I knew it was a risk but I had the hope to have them with me,” Col­i­na said.

“For me, it was a big­ger risk to leave them in Venezuela, be­cause in Venezuela it’s al­most im­pos­si­ble to live - lack of food, lack of fruits for chil­dren, lack of tablets for them. My wife, when she was in Erin Po­lice Sta­tion, she... lost a lot of weight and my chil­dren, when I saw them, they lost a lot of weight. It was too much.”

Carelys Cara­bal­lo, 23, said her two nephews and niece, aged be­tween two and 11, were on the boat with her sis­ter-in-law Yan­itza. She said they were com­ing across to live with her.

“It has al­ways been my de­sire to help her (sis­ter-in-law). I have al­ways been very close to my ... nieces and my nephew,” she said.

She said both she and her hus­band were work­ing very hard to be able to sup­port the chil­dren fi­nan­cial­ly when they ar­rived.

Fe­lix Mar­cano, 44, said his wife Nelys­beth Con­tera, 34 and chil­dren Ali­cia, 9, and Zaid, 5, were on board the boat.

“The on­ly thing that I want is that they come back with me,” Mar­cano said.

“All I want is to have them with me. I want to pro­tect them. I want to give them a life that I promised them. I want to give them good meals.”

He said the sit­u­a­tion was so bad in Venezuela that he could be killed if he is seen with food for his fam­i­ly.

All the rel­a­tives of the de­tained mi­grants have been liv­ing in Trinidad for at least one year and were reg­is­tered dur­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s Mi­grant Reg­is­tra­tion ini­tia­tive last year.

On No­vem­ber 22, 16 Venezue­lan chil­dren and nine women were de­port­ed mere hours be­fore their court hear­ing. They lat­er re­turned to the coun­try and were de­tained by po­lice on their ar­rival.

In an open let­ter to the Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley last week, the Caribbean Cen­tre for Hu­man Rights, Amnesty In­ter­na­tion­al, Refugees In­ter­na­tion­al and 14 oth­er or­gan­i­sa­tions said their re­turn gives T&T’s Gov­ern­ment a sec­ond chance to up­hold their do­mes­tic and in­ter­na­tion­al oblig­a­tions to pro­tect peo­ple seek­ing safe­ty from dan­ger.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored